Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

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ti-amie United States of America
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

#211

Post by ti-amie »

Winter sports! I'm looking around for some speed skating short or long track.
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

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Post by ptmcmahon »

https://www.youtube.com/live/tpz0X7YtRpY?feature=share

Thought it was my eyes deceiving me but it looks like Jill Officer is out there with Lawes today too (instead of Selena N - who is out and due in March.)
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

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Post by Deuce »

ptmcmahon wrote: Sat Jan 28, 2023 10:27 pm https://www.youtube.com/live/tpz0X7YtRpY?feature=share

Thought it was my eyes deceiving me but it looks like Jill Officer is out there with Lawes today too (instead of Selena N - who is out and due in March.)
Yeah... curling is one of those sports where 'retired' and 'semi-retired' players will suddenly show up to replace someone on a notable team.

I'm still waiting for Ed Werenich and Guy Hemmings to show up on some team, though... :D
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

#214

Post by Deuce »

ptmcmahon wrote: Sat Jan 28, 2023 6:20 pm Provincials for Brier and Scotties well under way. Unfortunately doesn't look like any of it will be televised...hoping to find a stream or two (one person at curling today has a daughter at the NS playdowns and said a lot of the teams there have personal streams?)

The big match today ... well interest wise ... Jennifer Jones vs Kaitlyn Lawes in Manitoba. Both are 6-0 so winner probably goes to the Manitoba final. Of course both are in the top 3 of the rankings so both will get into the Scotties anyways with 3 wild cards. But I'm sure both will be eager to win this one.
Jones won it - but they could face each other again in the Final.
The new Jones team is surprising. They are doing quite well overall... I don't think many people predicted this level of success for a young team suddenly being skipped by a 48 year old veteran.
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

#215

Post by ptmcmahon »

I'm not so much surprised at their success... but a little more wondering if long term it's best for the younger girls or not. I suppose a few good years won't hurt.

The wildcard system is definitely good for making better Brier and Scotties... but interesting for the provincials, especially Manitoba this year. If Homan (ranked #1) wins the Ontario final, all of the three Manitoba teams left will make the Scotties - one as team Mantioba, two as wild card teams. Which makes tomorrow's games possibly not important in the long run.

Casey Schiedigger (ranked #4) is inches away from one of the wildcards. The only way she doesn't make it is if Homan loses Ontario final and Ackland (ranked #5) wins Manitoba - then Homan (#1) Lawes (#2) and Jones (#3) all get wildcards.
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

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Post by ptmcmahon »

Last three provincial playdowns for the Brier are this weekend, including what should be a couple doozies in Manitoba and Alberta.

The weird part though - the top 5 teams in rankings other than Gushue are all in AB and Manitoba. Bottcher, Koe, and Sturmay in Alberta, and Dunstone and Carruthers in Maintoba.

So just like women's Manitoba playoffs if the favorites all make the finals in Manitoba and Alberta it won't really matter as the losers will get Wild Cards as well, as well as team #3 in Alberta. Better Brier at the expense of exciting provincial playdowns.

NB final is this week too, but I'm not sure if any team other than Grattan has much of a chance there.
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

#217

Post by Deuce »

I am not following it as closely this winter because I'm not curling myself this winter. Usually we all talk about the playdowns, etc. in the locker room at the curling club - but I'm not there this year, so I'm more 'out of the loop'.
I still watch it anytime I see it on TV... but between episodes of televised curling, I find I'm following it less.

Part of that has to do with there having been so many changes within the teams, as well. It's become like pro baseball, basketball, hockey, and football, with players not staying with a team for more than a couple of years. So there's no continuity because there's no loyalty.

I'll try to make more effort to follow it - because I do love curling.
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

#218

Post by ptmcmahon »

As a stats nerd, scenario type lover I sometimes enjoy playdowns as much as the Brier/Scotties themselves. Then during Scotties/Brier my favorite draws are the ones right before playoffs with all the different permutations of teams making playoff / 1-2 game etc.

So far only thing of note this week is Koe lost his first match to a team I haven't heard of. But being it's triple knockout and he's still guaranteed a wild card it's not that big a deal.
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

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Post by Deuce »

I see that Darren Moulding has got himself back in the Brier on the Horgan team from the only province that automatically gets two entrants every year (and Tanner Horgan is Tracy Fleury's brother).

Pierre Charette is listed as Team Quebec's alternate for the Brier. He's long past his prime, so they better hope that no-one on the team gets hurt or gets sick...

On the women's side, it seems to be a nice mix of familiar and new faces. Starts in a week!
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

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Post by ptmcmahon »

I had to look up Charette to see who he was.

I couldn't find an oldest player ever, but apparently the oldest Skip ever was a 71 year old from Nova Scotia in 1929.

Watching a bit of Alberta playdowns (https://www.youtube.com/@CurlingZone/streams) and it is so weird seeing Koe playing with a Martin.

Bottcher and Dunstone are still undefeated so far this week. I think I'm going to pick Dunstone to win the Brier every year until he finally does.
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

#221

Post by Deuce »

One would think that the older a player is, the more likely he/she would skip, as you'd want the younger ones sweeping.

The game has changed a lot in the past 25 years or so, of course. Up to about the 1980s, players were still smoking on the ice - even during the Brier!
You still see the odd player today who's not in good physical condition - but it's very much the exception now, whereas it used to be the rule.

Charette has played in several Briers over the years, and is at pretty much all the televised curling events today as some sort of head official or something. He also is the coach of the Tirinzoni team from Switzerland.
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

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Post by ptmcmahon »

Oh gotcha, thought I'd seen him somewhere but didn't remember ever seeing him curl. Hopefully he gets on the ice for at least and end or two then.
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

#223

Post by ptmcmahon »

I haven't watched the matches yet, but as expected Alberta final was Koe Vs Bottcher and Manitoba was Carruther vs Dunstone. Not as much drama since the losers were guaranteed wild cards. So I'm a little torn if I like it, although it definitely gets a stronger Brier field.

I guess time for Scotties predictions. Looks like only 3 teams make it out of Pool A & B this year:

https://www.tsn.ca/curling/scotties-tou ... -1.1916229

5 of 6 picked Homan to win and the other for her to lose in final to Einarson. I think I'm picking Jones to win - from what I saw in Manitoba they are playing well and ... every time I watch Homan something seems a little off.
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

#224

Post by Deuce »

I don't mind the WildCards... but the idiotic residence rules irk me.
How in the world can you have a team from a given province - representing that province - and have half the team not have any legitimate link to that province?
If you're going to have teams representing provinces in this NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, then all members of the team should obviously be from that province.
The 'import rule' is completely asinine... Imagine if the Olympics - which pits countries against each other - suddenly decided to have an 'import rule' where half the Japanese hockey team could be Canadians with no legitimate link to Japan!
It's insane.

For the Scotties, obviously no-one can ignore the Einarson team...
I agree with you about the Homan team - which I guess is now the Homan/Fleury team. Their dynamic just feels odd, with every player playing out of their normal position. Also, I've disliked Homan ever since her very poor sportsmanship at the Olympics a few years ago (and I really liked her prior to that).

I don't see Jones doing well at the Scotties this year. Again, the dynamic of the team is odd, with both ends of the spectrum - the young and the old... I think Jennifer has used up her 9 lives.

I think Lawes could get through to the Final. The team is strong - Laura Walker is finally playing at her best position (Third), Peterman is a natural Second, and MacCuish is a decent Lead. They've also got the very experienced Lisa Weagle as 'coach', who I imagine could come in to play any time, if needed.
R.I.P. Amal...

“The opposite of courage is not cowardice - it’s conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.”- Jim Hightower
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Re: Curling! (the sport, not your hair)

#225

Post by ptmcmahon »

I think Jones is on about life 8 or 9 but not done yet. They at least rolled through Manitoba and did beat Lawes 9-5.

Lawes team is such a wildcard this year. I don't doubt they'll have many successful years but with the revolving door of players due to pregnancies and that controversy too it seems like this might be a hard year (Peterman is also pregnant now too.) At least they all timed it together :) They might be my pick to win in 2024.

Meanwhile watch Einarson win 2023 and 2024 now.
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